The (61) ………………competitive……………….. (COMPETE) racing of horses is one of humankind’s most ancient sports. Horse racing was an organised sport in all major civilisations from Central Asia to the Mediterranean and became an (62) ………………obsession……………….. (OBSESS) with the public in the Roman Empire. The sport has  traditionally been associated with royalty and the nobility. It became a professional sport at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is the second most (63) ………………widely……………….. (WIDE) attended spectator sport in the US, after baseball.

In the UK, the Jockey Club, founded in 1750, has complete (64) …………………responsibility…………….. (RESPONSIBLE) for horse racing. It is also responsible for the regulations regarding the breeding of racehorses. Although science has been (65) ………unable……………………….. (ABLE) to find a breeding system that guarantees the birth of a champion, it is possible to produce horses that are successful on the racetrack. Commercial breeding is a very (66) ……………profitable………………….. (PROFIT) business, and racehorses can be worth millions of pounds.